Treatment of iron chlorosis



United States Patent-'0 TREATMENT F IRON CHLORSIS Joe Antognini, Mountain View, Calif., assigner to Stauffer Chemical Company, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application January i7, V1956 Serial No. 559,531

9 Claims. (Cl. 71-1) This `invention relates to the treatment of iron chlorosis 2,855,285 Patented Oct. 7, 1958 ICC trate, ferrie nitrate, ferrous sulfateggferric phosphateyferric sulfate, ferrie; ammonium sulfatef-asewell as ferrie chloride. IOffthese, it is preferred -touse ferrie-chloride. Similarlysuccessful-agents for treatingchlorosis have been prepared utilizingthe v-arious'compounds designated by code numbers inthecolumnbelow; These have been assigned for the sakeof;simplifyingreference tothe compounds: A

T868--Triphenyl sulfonum 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetate.

T870-Triphenyl sulfoniumrthioyanate T1766%fTetfaPhenylPhosphonium iodide f :s

Tl790-ParamonochlorophenyL diphenylsulfonium chloin plants and particuarly relates to the treatment of iron ride I.: t chlorosis utilizing a series of novel treating agents.' Tl79l-Tri(2,4;5Ttriehlorophenyl) Slllftzllillll:chloridelron deiiciency or iron chlorosis as it is more commonly T1843.;Dibrenzylftmethyk` sulioniurn-methylsulfate called affects many species ofplants. Iron chlorosis is- T1844-Di-n-butyl methyl sulfonium;methosulfateV readily diagnosed by visual examination of the leaves. v Tl845.-l-Din.pr1opylmethylsulfoniumrnethosulfate In mild cases, the leaf veins are darker green than the T867-Triphenyl sulfonium chloride. attirati anni?as.etznamstine' Of were ln severe eases the areas between the geins las Wellyas the The exact p'roprtlons qfthe non compound 'and the veins fade to ain ivory color and the plants become par; omumncompound-IS ngt Cn-tlcal: 'However one mustuse muy defoliad and die back results 25 at-.least yonefmoleoff-the omumf'foneachmoleof the iron v Iron chlorosis may be caused by one or a combination compound" t? "chlatethe latter" of Course" a greater of the following amount-ofthefomumicompound,can be;used, but an ex.-

cess tof Itheniurrl compound,servesn-ol useful purpose 1- A'Ctual dec-1eny Pf 11'0n 1n the S011- and merely"dilutes'theutreatingagent. Generally speak- 2 Lacl 0f avallable on du@ 'fof 30 ing, it' is preferred 'to use the compounds on a mole for a. High manganese content of the soil mole basis` b- Hgh Coppel COUGHU'IF Soil -In applyinggthe 'compoundsgof theipresent invention to. c. High p H (abOVe aPPIOXlmaely T0) 0f"hS011 foliage,it has been found that t-hfe best results are obtained d# Hlghllm'e (CaCOs) COUSH'CO The S0i1v by utilizingarelativelydiluteaqueous'solution Solutions Control of iron chlorosis can be brought about by the ranging'in ooncentration'from"aboutone pound per 100 application -of an iron compound to the soil or to the gallons to about sixpounds per `1O0^gallons-are suitable.. foliage. For soil applications, the compound-.must hold Whenthe'materialiisappliedfdirectly to ythe soil, asmall the iron in 1a form y.available for absorption by the plant amount is workedjintothesoilsurface, and a `quantityof roots `and the compound or the iron must be capable of water is theuo'oded over -th'esoik` being translocated tothe-leaveswhere-the liron-is utilized.. 40 Thefollowinglv specific" examples illustrate. various, For foliageI applications, the compound must be readily methods'ofrcarrying outtlie present invention.; absorbed-and translocated throughout thenleaf-and -to.tl:le.4 Example] `-Application.to chlorotic pear trees.v Thisnew growth.r Veryfew iron compounds have been found.` test was carried-fout' ata ranclrjnear Santa Clara, Calif whichcan be successfullyand economically usedineither, fornia. Five young"pear-trees,about 9 ft. high, which method of application; were severely ychlorotic, were used. Thematerial for this.

In acc-ordancewith thepresent inventionithas been.. test was a mixture of -triphenyl sulfpnium chloride and found that the complexes made with aromatic snlfonium ferrie chloride-containing1825%"iron as metallicvhereinror phosphoniurn compounds and iron salts may bereadily afterreferred*tomas/T4690,r anddsolutions `wereprepared utilized byplants-and may;-:be..used.to cureiron chlorosis. containing-2.8 pounds I,of thecornplexper l100 gallons, and ItV has further been foundA that such compounds `canbe 5.6 poundsof -thecomplex perv 100 gallons. Two of the applied either to thesoil itself or. sprayedonto. the-foilage treesiwere'sprayedwith the formerjsolutiomgone tree was for the correction of iron chlorosis. sprayedwith' th'eflatterfsolution;oneetree was 4soil 'treated fOne particularly effectiven form` of iron was made by by-workingone poundfbfeT-l690`into thewtop'l/z of soil, complexing triphenyl sulfonium chloride` with-ferrie chlofollowed by anapplicationofviifteen gallons of water, and ridel hydrate. The resultingacomplexes contained. from.. one tree` wasleft' asA a control: The conditiono the 8.5% to 9.8% iron as metallic iron` y eontroltree didvr not materially Xchange-during the-,course Other. effective treating agentsmay be preparedyutilizof the testf- The-spraying. was `done with, :a fan ltype ing other iron compoundsand otherrtriaromatic sulfonium.. nozzle at 25 poundspressureand- -both surfaces of the compounds.` For:instance,.successful .agents have-been leaves wereysprayed, as:moroughlyes;possiblet The folprepared utilizingh ferrousammonium. sulfate, fer-ric tar,- lowing-results wereobtetined:Y

i TabIefL-V-Epect ori-@greeningvl Dayslarter.; 1 1b. son 2.8/100 5.6/100 2.8/100 application v5 No change No;change;.-,-. Nochange No change.

8 do `Blotch greeninganngnew shoots on Newleaves.

tipsplmostcompetely, greenl 14 Blotch greening:V Good.greening.... Fair greening... Goodgreening.

of new leaves.. 18; Good greening of: G'oodgreeningwsf Fait to good Goodgreening,

nevvleaves. peelally'nevsfl greening.V especially leaves.'v new leaves.

Example 2.-Application to chlorotic gardenias. Severely chlorotic gardenia plants growing in one gallon cans were obtained from a nursery for use in the test. On two of the plants, thel foliage was thoroughly sprayed with a solution containing 1 lb. of the complex of Example 1 per 100 gallons. On two other plants, 1.6 oz. of the complex of Example l was applied to the soil and the plant was freelywatered. In both cases, there was a substantial improvement after 13 days, and after 27 Example 6,-Treating agents were made by combining triphenyl sulfonium chloride with a number of diierent iron salts. Equivalent amounts of the iron salt and sulfonium compound were used, and the solutions were diluted with water so as to contain 0.022% iron as metallic. The solutions were applied to branches of old lemon trees and there were four replications per treatment. In each case there was an effective greening of the treated limbs. The following data were obtained:

days, the plants showed good greening. In the case of the plants having the solution applied to the follage, the Fe qu Degree or Greening results were noticeable after only seven days, while 1n L the case of the plants having the complex applied to the I I1 III IV soil, the results did not become apparent for thlrteen days l5 Firous ammonium sul- Poor. Poor.. Poor.. Poor 2.0

Example 3 In this examples a Compa-uson was 'in ade Ferrie tartrat Poor" Poor-- Poor-. Good.. 2.7 "n Pear ee branches i applying a complex sum1 iifta' a' ll i-ii ililj to that of Example 1 at concentrations of 1, 2 and 4 per@ phospnai: Pour-: Fair.-. P09r Poor.. 2.5 Pounds Per 100 gallons' A modied formula was Sed n iii'nnsafae 333i iiii; gli?? t? so that the iron content was 9.8% as metalllc iron. Each e0 Fem., Chloride G00 Fa GOOIL Fai r ig treatment was replicated three times and the following Control mme-- 110m-- I1011e 110119-- results were obtained:

Days after application Treat- Rep.

ment

1 v. S... v.S. 1lb-.. 2 Mod 1 Sev. 2 lbs.... 2 Sl.-Mod

3 M a d In the above table, V. S. indicates very slight, Sl. indicates slight chlorosis, Mod. indicates moderate chlorosis, and Sev. indicates severe chlorosis.

Example 1 -Effect on pear fruit injury.-Some treatments which have heretofore been used. have resulted in injury to fruit. For instance, when pears are sprayed with some conventional agents for the treatment of chlorosis, a large percentage of them develop burned spots and/or black pits.- In this test, pear trees having well developed fruit were sprayed with two pounds per 100 gallons ferric chloride-triphenyl sulfonium chloride complex. The trees'originally showed moderate to severe chlorosis and after 2l days, the condition of all trees was good. On the other hand, there was no detectable injury to the fruit. Y

Example S-Applcation to chlorotic roses.-A complex of ferrie chloride-triphenyl sulfonium chloride containing 9.8% iron as metallic was prepared. Roses being grown in a greenhouse near Palo Alto, California, were selected for test. Treatment No. l consisted of a spray application of ferrie chloride-triphenyl sulfonium chloride complex at the rate of 2 pounds per 100 gallons; treatment No. 2 consisted of a spray containing 4 pounds of the complex per 100 gallons, while treatment No. 3 consisted of applying two pounds of the complex per 1,000 square feet of soil, followed by a thorough wetting of the soil. The following data were obtained:

Ratings on degree of iron chlorosis At time of application Treatment Repli- With T4690 v7 days after cate application 14 days after application 2 lbs/100 4 lbS./100

2 lbs.l1,000 sq. ft

Example 7.-Tests were conducted as in Example 6 except that ferric chloride was used in each instance with various onium compounds. The following data were I claim:

l. The method of treating iron chlorosis comprising applying to a chlorotic plant an effective amount of a complex containing a member chosen from the group consisting of phenyl phosphonium and organic sulfonium compounds together with an iron compound.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the onium compound and the iron compound are present in about equal molal quantities.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein the complex is applied to the leaves of the plant.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein the complex is applied to the soil in which the plant is growing.

5. The method of treating iron chlorosis comprising applying to a chlorotic plant an effective amount of a complex containing ferric chloride and triphenyl sulfonium chloride.

6. The method of treating iron chlorosis comprising: applying to a chlorotic plant an effective amount of a complex containing ferrie ammonium sulfate and triphenyl sulfonium chloride.

7. The method of treating iron chlorosis comprising: applying to a chlorotic plant an eective amount of a complex containing ferric sulfate and triphenyl sulfonium chloride. i

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,366,176 Britton et al. Ian. 2, 1945 lo ates as Sources of Iron for Plants by Stewart et al.

6 2,402,016 Britton et al. June 11, 1946 2,534,787 Mecca Dec. 19, 1950 2,800,747 Pitt July 3 0, 1957 OTHER REFERENCES Utah Circular 85, published by Utah State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah, May 1930, on Chloross .Yellowing of Plants, l2 pages. Only page 10 is relied on.

Science, vol. 116, Nov. 21, 1952, pp. 564-566, Chel- Agricultural Chemicals, November 1954, Iron Chelates Control Iron Chlorosis, by Antognini, pages 47-49. 

1. THE METHOD OF TREATING IRON CHLOROSIS COMPRISING APPLYING TO A CHLOROIC PLANT AN EFFECTIVE AMOUNT OF A COMPLEX CONTAINING A MEMBER CHOSEN FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF PHENYL PHOSPHONIUM AND ORGANIC SULFONIUM COMPOUNDS TOGETHER WITH AN IRON COMPOUND. 